Japan Major 5 Makers Keep R&D Investment

Japanese major 5 steel makers’ consolidated research and development investment decreased by 0.9% to total 100.029 billion yen in April-December from same period of 2009. The investment increased by 1% to total 34.047 billion yen for October-December.

Nippon Steel increased the investment by 0.6% to 34.6 billion yen for April-December from same period of 2009. The investment decreased by 7.5% to 23.646 billion yen for JFE Holdings and by 11.6% to 3.283 billion yen for Nisshin Steel while Sumitomo Metal Industries kept 16.9 billion yen of investment as same period of 2009 and Kobe Steel increased the investment by 5.9% to 21.6 billion yen.

Nippon Steel reduced the investment by 6% to 11 billion yen for October-December from same period of 2009. The investment decreased by 1.9% to 8.175 billion yen for JFE Holdings, by 1.7% to 5.9 billion yen for Sumitomo Metals and by 9% to 1.072 billion yen for Nisshin Steel while Kobe Steel increased the investment by 21.5% to 7.9 billion yen.

Nippon Steel’s R&D investment represented 1.1% of the consolidated sales in April-December, which was 0.3 percentage points lower than same period of 2009. The rate decreased by 0.3 points to 1% for JFE Holdings, by 0.2 points to 1.6% for Sumitomo Metals, by 0.1 point to 1.6% for Kobe Steel and by 0.4 points to 0.8% for Nisshin Steel.